While I went through some tech sites, Notion Ink tablet raised bit of curiosity. What interested me most is 1] The PQi display 2] Media file access through USB, micro SD card reader, HD movie playback.

Notion Ink Tablet “Adam”

So I went through several Notion Ink fan sites with intention of exploring the possibility of buying the device after a carefull study of the reviews. I went through some media reports, user comments and the company website on the Indian tablet. Quiet few points made me really nervous.

First, the company is unknown. The leader is a young man who’s enthusiasm is appreciable but lacks the muscle power of big tech giants.

Second, the specification was quite interesting to raise your curiosity but immediately it raised the question why major tech websites were not presented with the gadget so that a review will be available for potential buyers. So we were forced to believe what the die hard fans and the company makes us to believe.

Initially complaints from customers were high. The people who booked complained of several failed delivery schedules. Many delivery date deadlines went by making people to call its as vaporware. Some of the early birds who were lucky to get the ordered set had no clue how to operate the user interface “Eden” along with Android interface and added more damage to its name. Questions about the qulaity of plastic used. Then complaints from some quarters regarding the “Pixel Qi” screen looking washed. The power saving which was considered as salient point of PixelQi is not benchmarked leading to lot of speculation. There were issues regarding touch screen not being responsive. There is a very big silence in the Notion Ink website regarding some of the issues highlighted here.

I was initially interested to place order but only made some queries in the company’s website and left it at that point. But then one fine day I received an email asking me to place order for the second round! Surprise. While the Notion Ink website boosted huge demand, I was surprised that I got an invitation even with out requesting one. May be I was bit lucky.

Did I place order? No!

Reason?

There is no direct sales in India. One has to order it through internet and bear the custom duty on shipment arrival. I was not sure what will be the total cost including the customs duty. I am not comfortable handling directly “CUSTOMS” in India. I felt Rohan should import in bulk and have 4 distribution point in his home country India. There are stores like Croma he can tie up with. Surely it will come at some stage.

Second, if some think goes wrong, you will be left with expensive brick. There is no service points available in India! I doubt. Rohan, the founder, says the package contains the details about service center etc., But you will come to know that only after you receive the tablet.[Notion Ink blog says the company planning service centers in US, Germany and India]

Third, the FCC test photos which showed lot of manual soldering and poor built quality. The cost compared to other tablets is not that different so the build quality when compared with other established companies is inferior. These joints were loosely hanging which may give way on usage. Rohan himself has accepted that the packing is not of high standards.

Fourth, there are well established companies like Blackberry, Motorola, Samsung not to mention IPad coming with new tablets and the survival rate of this tablet company with no other product in its table makes its survival questionable and in turn puts question mark on its future support.

Fifth, Adam will be updated soon with Honeycomb. So I want to wait.

Sixth, I want the product to mature!

But, If you have lots and lots of money and wants to have some fun with gadgets. Go for it. It has great features as it allows even to connect the tablet to FullHD TV and view movies and videos. The Eden interface I understand is a novelty to the Android software. It has a SD card reader and also USB port to connect external storage device. So I will wait.